Turn 24 (R2Remake)
Turn 24 is the third chapter of bonzo's R2Remake comic series and serves as an alternate retelling of Code Geass R2 Turn 24. Plot As the final battle continues, the Black Knights watch as Schneizel's newly-revealed Merlin KMF remains stationary. Xingke deduces that its purpose is merely to keep them away while the Damocles fixes its shields. Tohdoh decides to lead his squadron to attack the KMF and orders Rakshata to analyze its capabilities. However, the Merlin easily defeats them and crushes Tohdoh's Zangetsu. However, Kallen suddenly appears in her Guren and rescues Tohdoh in the nick of time, declaring that she will serve the Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia. Lelouch asks why she returned and Kallen replies because she chose to. She believes Lelouch has demonstrated that he does not merely see her as a pawn and she wishes to keep protecting him and save his sister Nunnally. Lelouch thanks her for setting him back on the right path and tells her that she is his best knight. Meanwhile, Gino duels with Anya and asks why she continues to fight for Schneizel. Anya says that, while she wishes to serve Royal Britannia, she does not like Lelouch. After analyzing the Merlin, Rakshata informs the others that it has power equivalent to about twenty Gurens. She also says that it has the same barrier as the Damocles and only the Ikaruga's Hadron Cannon can penetrate it. Lelouch decides to launch a mass attack against the Merlin to create as much chaos as possible and allow Jeremiah a chance to infiltrate the fortress and rescue Nunnally. The tactic works and Jeremiahs manages to enter the fortress, though his Siegfried is destroyed in the process. Kallen then attempts to destroy the Merlin's barrier with a full radiation blast, but the Merlin blocks her attack with an energy beam. After destroying several more KMFs, Kanon attempts to kill Lelouch, but Kallen throws herself in front of him. Kallen and Kanon then face off in a one-on-one battle. Back on the Avalon, Lloyd is impressed by Kallen's performance, but Rakshata believes she will still be defeated. Kallen's attempt to move the Merlin towards the Ikaruga fails and she desperately tries to think of a new strategy. Knowing he is losing too much time, Kanon taunts Kallen by threatening to destroy her Guren and making her watch as he kills Lelouch. Falling for his taunt, Kallen releases the limitators on her Guren and unleashes as much power as she can. The Guren and Merlin collide in a duel of energy blasts, but the Guren begins to break apart. Kanon grabs the Guren, crushes it with his Merlin, and tosses Kallen on board the Damocles. Gino rushes towards Kallen, abandoning his duel with Anya. In response, Anya fires a beam at the escaping Gino, but he manages to dodge it. The beams heads for the Merlin and Kanon, unable to block it with his shields, fires a beam towards Anya to neutralize it. The beam partially destroys the Mordred, leaving Anya mortally wounded. Gino rushes back and tries to save her, but the Mordred explodes, killing her. Distraught, Gino cries that they must end the battle now. Afterwards, the Damocles opens fire and destroys many of Britannia's and the Black Knights' airships. The Ikaruga becomes crippled and Ohgi gives the order to abandon ship. The Avalon also takes heavy damage and Lelouch orders it to retreat to safety. Hundreds of KMFs continue to battle the Merlin, but only Suzaku's Albion stands any chance. Gino watches as the Merlin sacrifices an arm to evade an explosion and deduces that there is only one way to stop it. He attempts a suicide attack on the Merlin by setting his Yggdrasil core to overload and asking Suzaku to fire his Hadron Cannon on him, hoping the resulting explosion will destroy the Merlin. However, knowing he has only two months to live anyway, Xingke intervenes and sacrifices himself to hold down the Merlin. Xingke dies in the explosion and Gino ejects to safety. Kanon's Blaze Luminous is rendered inoperable and Suzaku destroys the Merlin with his Albion. Kanon dies, apologizing to his master. With the Merlin out of the way, Lelouch orders the troops to destroy the Damocles's float system and heads into the fortress along with Suzaku. On board the Damocles, an injured Kallen awakens to see Lelouch by her side. She apologizes for not being able to protect him, but Lelouch tells her that, thanks to her, they were able to uncover the Merlin's weakness and destroy it. Lelouch then orders Suzaku to take Kallen back to the Avalon as she requires medical attention, and Suzaku reluctantly complies. Meanwhile, Schneizel plans to activate the Damocles's self-destruct sequence as soon as the Blaze Luminous is repaired, trapping Lelouch and Nunnally inside. As Suzaku takes her back to the Avalon, Kallen reveals that she knows about the Zero Requiem and implores Suzaku to not go through with it. Suzaku is impressed by Kallen's devotion to Lelouch, but he still believes the Zero Requiem must go through so Euphemia can rest in peace. Back on the Avalon, Lloyd and Cecile read C.C.'s letter, which explains her history with Charles, V.V., and the Geass Order and everything they did to work against Lelouch. Her letter also contains a mistruth that explains that Euphemia's rampage was due to V.V. using a Geass soldier on her as her attempt to bring peace to Japan would have compromised his master plan. Lloyd suspects some of the information may be false, but he is nevertheless amused by everything C.C. has revealed. Cecile implores Lloyd to help aid the injured and he agrees. Lloyd decides to give the information to Kaguya, knowing that all the data C.C. provided is genuine, and confessing that he abhors the inhumane research the Geass Order was doing. Kallen, now safely aboard the Avalon, become hysterical. She is approached by Ohgi and she desperately begs him to stop Suzaku, believing that he will kill Lelouch. Shocked by her distraught appearance, Ohgi nevertheless orders the soldiers to take her away for treatment. Lloyd then approaches Ohgi and gives him C.C.'s dossier. On the Damocles, Cornelia and Nonette learn that Lelouch is onboard. They decide to go rescue Nunnally, believing they will be able to evade Schneizel's troops. In Nunnally's room, she is approached by Jeremiah who activates his Geass Canceler. Nunnally is freed from her father's and finds that she is miraculously able to see again. Her joy turns to horror however as she sees Jeremiah's beaten and bloodied body before her. She tries to help him, but falls to the floor just as Cornelia and Nonette arrive. Nunnally tells Cornelia that she can see and she can feel her legs, but cannot move them. Jeremiah explains that Charles used his Geass to make Nunnally blind to hide the truth behind Marianne's death. He also substantiates C.C.'s story that V.V. was the one who manipulated Euphemia. Jeremiah and Cornelia reveal to Nunnally that Lelouch agreed to abdicate the throne, allowing her to be empress, but Nunnally admits she feels unsuited to the job. Jeremiah tells Nunnally that she will make a wonderful leader and Cornelia agrees to help guide her. Reassured, Nunnally agrees to do everything in her power to lead the world to a brighter future. Unfortunately, Jeremiah succumbs to his wounds and Nunnally burst into tears as she witnesses her savior die before her eyes. Cornelia consoles her, but tells her that she must be strong and decides to tell her the truth about Schneizel. Meanwhile, Lelouch feels pain in his eyes, believing it may be due to C.C.'s death. Suzaku calls Lelouch, telling him he is back onboard the Damocles and should meet up with him soon. Since neither he nor Suzaku have been met with any resistance, Lelouch deduces that Schneizel intends to destroy the Damocles. He orders the Britannian army and the Black Knights to keep their distance from the Damocles and destroy all escaping units. Lelouch tells Suzaku he is on an Imperial Shuttle and has the pilot under his command; he orders Suzaku to rescue Nunnally. Suzaku objects, claiming Lelouch cannot do it alone, but Schneizel has already arrived at Lelouch's location. Lelouch immediately uses his Geass on Schneizel to make him obey him and Schneizel appears to comply, but instead shoots Lelouch in the leg. Cornelia and Nonette make their way through the Damocles' corridors, with Nonette carrying Nunnally on her back. As they escape, Nunnally recalls the events that led to her being crippled and Schneizel's role in it. Nonette wonders why Charles would go so far as to cripple Nunnally's legs and Cornelia speculates that perhaps he did it to keep Lelouch under control as he would then have to constantly dote on his sister. Despite the trauma Nunnally has gone through, Nonette tells her that they will soon meet with her brothers and she must choose who to side with. Nunnally confidently says that they both will have to answer for the way they lied to and manipulated her. Back at the Imperial Shuttle, as Lelouch cringes in pain, Schneizel reveals he was wearing an Anti-Geass contact lens, making Lelouch's Geass useless against him. Lelouch then chastises Schneizel, telling him that he has used his Geass to give people hope, while Schneizel only wishes to dominate the world. Schneizel says Lelouch is no better as he has manipulated, abandoned, and killed countless people in his pursuits. He also says Lelouch has grown weak and has no right to command the world. Schneizel then prepares to leave in the claiming that, now that the world has witnessed the power of the FLEIJA and the Merlin, he will have plenty of new allies who will wish to help him in exchange for such weapons. Lelouch pulls a gun from behind his back, but before he can fire it, Schneizel shoots Lelouch in the head through his right eye, rendering him unconscious. Suzaku finally arrives and shoots Schneizel in the chest, mortally wounding him. With Schneizel incapacitated, Diethard tries to make his escape, fearing the wrath of Ohgi and the others. Suzaku checks Lelouch's pulse and sees that he is still alive. Despite his situation, Schneizel says that he has still won since only the royal family knows the code to open the hangar door and the Luminous and thus they will all perish on the Damocles together. However, Cornelia arrives and reveals that she knows the code. She asks Schneizel why he enacted this plan as he could have been a great king. Schneizel concedes that perhaps he could have been in a peaceful time. Nunnally then notices Lelouch's bloodied and unconscious body and cries out asking Suzaku if he is dead or not, leaving him with the decision to save Lelouch or leave him to die. Outside the Damocles, the Black Knights assess the damage, finding that they have lost about 80% of their KMFs and the Britannian army has lost about 75% of their units. Kaguya and Rakshata read over C.C.'s data, finding that the Geass Order performed experiments on children. Even so, Kaguya questions Lelouch's decision to massacre the entire cult. However, Rakshata counters that freeing them with the Geass wasn't possible and, since they were all brainwashed, it may have been the best thing for them. They also discuss the Akshata Sword and Charles' plan. Ohgi then says he must speak with Kallen, but Kaguya advises against it and Rakshata comments that she might tear his eyes out. Tohdoh admits they are left with an uneasy situation. Although they owe their lives to Lelouch, C.C.'s data also confirms that he deceived and abandoned them on several occasions. Kaguya argues that he has since redeemed himself and that Kallen was right to side with him, but Chiba calls Kallen a traitor for abandoning the Black Knights identifying herself as a Britannian. Rakshata comments that Kallen's infatuation with Lelouch could explain her behavior, but, regardless, she made the right choice as it is better to be a pawn and a winner than free and a loser. Kaguya then commands everyone to stop squabbling and they all leave to tend to the wounded. Ohgi receives word that Minase has survived, but Sugiyama was not so lucky. Also, Kallen attempted to steal Chiba's KMF to save Lelouch, but she was stopped and sedated. Kaguya tells Ohgi to go to Horai to be with Villetta and volunteers herself to tell Tianzi about Xingke. They then receive word that the Imperial Shuttle has arrived with all the survivors of the Damocles, including Lelouch. As Suzaku brings Lelouch to the sick bay, he confesses that he did not save Lelouch for Kallen's or Nunnally's sake, but rather he now believes it would be a greater punishment for Lelouch to continue to live with the guilt of all the horrible things he's done. Lelouch is laid next to Kallen as Rakshata begins to treat him. Suzaku asks if C.C. did something to change Kallen, but Kallen counters that Suzaku himself changed after he killed his father and when Euphemia died. Suzaku the dismisses Lelouch as he no longer wants anything to do with him and must serve the new Empress. Suspecting Ohgi may wish to do him harm, Kallen climbs on top of Lelouch's body, protecting him and threatening Ohgi to stay away from them. On board the Damocles, Diethard desperately tries to escape, but finds that all the transports are already gone. Elsewhere, Cornelia, Nonette, Suzaku, Nunnally, and all the others watch as the Damocles explodes, ushering in a new era of history. On the medical transport, Nunnally meets with Kallen. She tells Kallen that she knows Lelouch isn't evil and asks if she will stay by his side. Kallen says that she will never leave Lelouch's side and swears it as an oath, calling Nunnally "your majesty". Cornelia asks Nonette what she will do now and she replies that she will continue to serve the Britannian crown. Nunnally speaks to the unconscious Lelouch, saying that things will be difficult, but she will do all she can to make the world a better place.